Mister Zero, Her Story: Chapter 63 – “Dawn City”
However, although Yan City and certain hidden entities hadn’t yet noticed the ripple from the “Wall of Resentment,” they sensed something else.
“The Primordial Demon aura that lingered over Yan City for days… has completely vanished!”
The Oversight Department member monitoring the demonic aura discovered this anomaly and, after repeated checks, confirmed it.
Since the “Ghost Town” incident, the Primordial Demon’s aura hadn’t left Yan City, always present, however faintly.
But just now, it had vanished in an instant, without warning.
It was so sudden that the Oversight Department member even suspected their equipment was malfunctioning after days of continuous operation.
But the replicated devices from “Noah” were sturdy and reliable; there was no damage.
The Oversight Department quickly reported this news, which would normally be considered important, but was now less so, as Yan City was in the midst of a war, and priorities had shifted.
The Yan City higher-ups had no time to worry about a vanished aura. Dawn’s assault on the second line of defense was relentless, their attacks now disregarding casualties.
According to incomplete reports from the front lines, Dawn had lost at least ten “Ruin” level members, and the number of injured was difficult to estimate, but undoubtedly high.
Although no other “Peril” level Cadre besides Myers had died yet, almost every Cadre was injured.
Of course, this heavy cost to Dawn also meant heavy losses for Yan City.
The second line of defense, built with vast resources and even mortgaging their future, now held almost eighty percent of Yan City’s forces.
Yan City had a population of nearly half a million, and with a military-civilian ratio of sixty to one, their army numbered less than ten thousand.
Over three thousand had been deployed to the first line of defense, and now, seven thousand were desperately defending the second line.
Even with the powerful weapons powered by the “Ember,” and the fortified second line of defense, they were barely holding off Dawn’s attack.
After all, Dawn’s teams were all led by “Peril” level ability users, a formidable force.
Therefore, the news of the vanished “Primordial Demon aura” didn’t attract much attention—they didn’t even have the resources to investigate the stronger aura fluctuations at the southwestern front line earlier, let alone a vanished one.
Dawn also vaguely sensed a subtle change in Yan City, but they, too, were preoccupied.
Rhine personally led the Dawn members, struggling to advance through Yan City’s core district, trying to reach the “Wall of Resentment” and the “Ember,” seeking an opportunity to unleash their full power and secure victory.
However, not everyone ignored this news…
“It’s gone… could it be… that she left?”
“Frick”—or rather, the blood-clad figure that could no longer be called “Frick,” its soul and will completely twisted, its body a servant of the demon.
She wasn’t an avatar of the Witch of Envy, but her perception had been warped by the Witch’s power.
She believed herself to be a follower of the “Witch of Envy,” yet her thoughts were those of the Witch herself.
Therefore… her presence didn’t cause the entire Yan City to be filled with a Primordial Demon’s aura, only a small area around her.
However, she was incredibly sensitive to this malevolent aura, and the moment it vanished, she knew that “Luo Yan” had left.
“No, she hasn’t left. This is… hyperspace severance… the power of ‘End’.”
Frick’s memories contained detailed records of the “Eldest Mister’s” ability.
Although Frick himself hadn’t known the truth about the Eldest Mister’s power, the blood-clad figure did.
And it wasn’t just ordinary “End,” but “End” at its peak, just like Luo Yan’s.
The power of the “Witch of End,” controlling the power of spatial destruction, its ultimate form capable of tearing the barrier between stable space and the chaotic void, unleashing a world-ending storm.
Many cataclysms and disasters in the New Era were essentially manifestations of the “End” power, which was why some called the “Witch of End” the “leader of the Primordial Demons.”
This wasn’t entirely accurate. The “Malice of All Worlds” was a collective of concepts, not a hierarchical structure.
But in another sense, it was true.
Because “End”… was the most destructive power.
However, it had another use.
Tearing space, entering hyperspace… even venturing into the chaotic void.
“A lowly being, dead for so long, yet still restless, Absolute Death… this mess is all your fault.”
A flicker of hatred appeared in the blood-clad figure’s eyes. If it weren’t for Absolute Death’s betrayal, the “Malice of All Worlds” wouldn’t have been sealed for so long.
But things would soon change.
“Too bad, Absolute Death, Luo Yan… all your efforts were in vain. Her appearance… signifies your utter defeat…”
The blood-clad figure smiled, recalling the small, silver-haired girl.
“If she had been successfully exiled, my Lord would have no chance of returning… but the exile failed, she appeared in the real world.”
“Let my descending Lord… drag her back into reality…”
“Knock, knock, knock.”
A knock came from the door, followed by a cold voice.
“Director Frick, are you there? It’s Qin Wen.”
The blood-clad figure looked towards the door, her smile widening. “The opportunity for my Lord’s glory to return… is at hand.”
“…Enter.”
Frick’s usual grim voice echoed, strangely hoarse and distorted.
Perhaps because Director Frick had been working tirelessly these past few days?
Qin Wen thought, opening the door and entering the dimly lit room.
…
“Breach detected on the southern front line, requesting increased energy supply to maintain the defense systems!”
“Request denied, reinforcements are on their way, hold the line.”
“The western front line is sixty percent compromised, about to collapse… damn it, they have another strong team hidden!”
“…Preparing to deploy ‘Martyrs’ to support the western front, try to keep the enemy within the signal zone.”
The Yan City command center was filled with tension, commands being relayed frantically, desperately trying to maintain the second line of defense.
But everyone remained calm and organized, not panicking in the face of the enemy.
The days of pioneering Yan City in the Endless Wasteland were still fresh in their minds, and many of the original pioneers were still alive.
Yan City’s command system was still functioning, employing a similar strategy to Rhine’s: overall defense with focused reinforcements, trying to buy as much time as possible.
Besides the defenses and the army, there were also mobile support units, mostly ability users from the Anomaly Management Bureau.
However… Yan City didn’t have many ability users left, about seven hundred “Calamity” level and less than twenty “Ruin” level.
To hold the first line of defense and buy time for the second line, the Anomaly Management Bureau had deployed most of its forces.
And now, without sufficient rest, they were back on the battlefield.
However, they faced the same problem as Hua Qiling: ample spiritual energy, but their mental strength was nearing its limit.
This war had become a bloody stalemate.
Meanwhile, atop the “Ember Furnace,” Sun Biwu and Lin Cheng, their eyes closed, seemed to sense something and looked in the same direction.
But in the dark, rainy night, they couldn’t see anything.
Only distant flashes of light hinted at the war’s brutality.
“He’s coming…”
Lin Cheng and Sun Biwu continued to stare in that direction, the sound of the rain masking everything, but a slow, unsteady gait could still be heard, faint yet clear.
A hunched, elderly figure gradually emerged from the darkness and the rain.
He walked slowly, seemingly unaffected by anything.
Upon reaching Lin Cheng and Sun Biwu, he coughed softly and stopped.
“You’ve come.”
Lin Cheng’s expression was complex.
From the moment he learned that he was in Yan City, he knew he would come here.
The “Ember Furnace.”
Lin Cheng had stayed away from the battlefield, not in the command center or the City Lord’s mansion, but here, waiting for this old man.
A man who had lived through the transition between the Old and New Eras, who had witnessed humanity’s past and present, who had walked this earth for so long.
A man who had been present since humanity first lit the “First Flame,” a flame that still burned.
A legend.
The last “Mister.”
—He wasn’t just Dawn’s “Mister,” but all of humanity’s.
Yet, he looked like an ordinary old man, his skin wrinkled with age, his face covered in dark, deathly spots.
His eyes were clouded, his voice weak, his body frail.
The rain had soaked him, making him look even more pathetic.
But Lin Cheng knew that every wrinkle on Mister’s face represented more years than even his own grandfather had lived.
Being able to meet this living legend, even though Yan City was currently at war with his organization, Lin Cheng felt honored.
“Heh… such good children…”
Mister glanced at Lin Cheng, a smile, or perhaps a grimace, twisting his lips.
He stood beside Lin Cheng, his hands clasped behind his back, and looked out at the distance.
“Child, you’ve built a beautiful place… I’ve seen it all… these past few days…”
Mister’s raspy voice was thick with phlegm, his words barely audible.
But Lin Cheng listened attentively, then bowed respectfully.
“Thank you for your praise, Mister.”
“But your subordinates are—”
Sun Biwu suddenly said, his voice filled with anger.
But Lin Cheng raised his hand, shaking his head slightly at Sun Biwu, silencing him.
Mister saw this, but he only smiled faintly.
Lin Cheng understood. The current Mister was no longer in control of Dawn.
He might be Dawn’s founder, a living legend, their elder, their patriarch, respected and revered—
But he was no longer their leader.
The ship of Dawn could no longer be steered by an old man stuck in the past.
He was the last, decaying plank of this Ship of Theseus, refusing to be replaced.
“I’ve heard of you… Lin Cheng, was it? Your father pioneered this land and named it ‘Yan City’…”
Mister looked up. Dark clouds obscured the stars, but he could still see their faint glimmer through the gaps, just like that night, many years ago.
“Did you know… that before Yan City… there was another city here?”
“What?!”
Lin Cheng’s pupils constricted, then he thought of the “Wall of Resentment.”
Mister glanced at the “Ember Furnace,” a flicker of remembrance in his eyes, then continued,
“‘Noah’ wasn’t the first city built around an ‘Ember.’ The city that once stood here… was.”
Lin Cheng’s breath hitched.
He realized that Mister was about to reveal a hidden secret, an ancient secret buried within Yan City.
“It wasn’t large, couldn’t hold millions, but in that desolate era, it was the first sanctuary capable of supporting about three thousand people,” Mister chuckled self-deprecatingly. “But in the end… it couldn’t even hold ten.”
“Save the world…”
Mister recalled those arrogant, laughable words, yet spoken with such sincerity.
Although… everything had been destroyed in a fire that concealed the truth, buried along with countless cries and wails in the dust of history.
“Its name was… ‘Dawn City.’ Its existence… signified the coming of dawn, the end of the eternal night of the Old Era…”
“But Dawn City fell, leaving only the lonely ‘Wall of Resentment’,” Mister looked towards the Wall. “Dawn City once had dozens of ‘Walls of Resentment’ to defend against disasters, but this… is the last one.”
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